Donald Trump, looking for cash, meets Elon Musk

Donald Trump, who is desperately seeking a cash infusion to support his presidential campaign, met in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday with Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world, and a pair of wealthy Republican donors, according to three people who had been briefed on the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Trump and his team are working to find additional major donors to shore up his finances as he heads into the expected general election against President Biden. Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Musk to allies and hopes to have a one-on-one meeting with the billionaire soon, according to a person who has discussed the matter with Mr. Trump.

It is not yet clear whether Musk plans to spend any of his fortune on Trump’s behalf. But his recent social media posts suggest he believes it is essential that Biden is defeated in November – and people who have spoken to Musk privately have confirmed that is indeed his view.

With a net worth of around $200 billion, Mr. Musk could decide to throw his support behind Mr. Trump and potentially, almost single-handedly, erase the enormous financial advantage of Mr. Biden and his allies, according to Forbes. over the former president.

Aides to Mr. Trump did not respond to a request for comment. Mr Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Musk has long portrayed himself as an independent spirit, and like many other business leaders, he has donated to candidates from both parties over the years. Unlike other American billionaires, he hasn’t spent much money on presidential elections, and his donations over the years have been split fairly evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have benefited from contracts and subsidies from the federal government.

A person close to Mr Musk said his relationship with the government had historically made him wary of identifying too closely with one political party over another. In 2017, the billionaire famously resigned from two business advisory boards when Mr. Trump was president over Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

“Climate change is real,” Musk posted on Twitter in June 2017. “Leaving Paris is not good for America and the world.”

The two have had other moments of friction. A few months before the midterm elections, in the summer of 2022, he spoke with the former president traded insultswith Mr Trump calling him a curse and Mr Musk saying it was time for the former president to ‘sail into the sunset’.

At the same time, however, Musk became more open about his preference for the Republican Party.

On the eve of the midterm elections, he told his more than 100 million followers on a Republican Congress. He has railed against what he describes as the left’s “woke” agenda and attacked Mr Biden over the record number of migrants entering the United States during his presidency.

Mr Musk’s comments on immigration have become increasingly alarmist. He has suggested that the president’s immigration policies threaten the very existence of America and have pushed American democracy to the brink. He has suggested that Democrats are “bringing in large numbers of illegals.” to cheat during elections. There is no evidence to support his claim of massive voter fraud.

“America will fall if it tries to absorb the world,” Musk said Posted at X on Tuesday. Earlier today he said Posted that the Biden administration’s immigration policies amounted to “treason.”

The person close to Mr Musk, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if he is behind Mr Trump, his views on immigration will have been a key motivator.

Mr. Musk has previously raised questions about Mr. Biden’s age and once repeated one of Mr. Trump’s favorite jokes by claiming that the president “still sleepingafter Mr Biden failed to congratulate any of his companies. Mr Musk also nursed a grudge against the president after the White House did not invite Tesla to an event on electric vehicles in August 2021.

“Let’s not forget that the White House is killing Tesla and excluding us from the EV summit,” said Tesla CEO Musk. posted on X in December.

Mr Musk visited the White House in September to discuss issues surrounding artificial intelligence NBC News, which obtained visitor logs. Mr Biden and Mr Musk did not meet during the visit.

After purchasing Twitter in October 2022, Mr Musk reinstated Mr Trump’s account. The former president was barred from the stage after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a decision that Musk had previously suggested was a mistake.

Still, it was far from clear that Mr. Musk would support Mr. Trump’s presidential bid. Mr. Musk had indicated before the Republican nominating contest that he was lean in the direction supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Mr. DeSantis kicked off his formal candidacy in a live-streamed audio discussion with Mr. Musk on X last May, and there was widespread speculation that a donation from Mr. Musk to the super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis would follow. But that never happened.

On Monday, Mr. Musk appeared to criticize television host Bill Maher, who said in a clip on X that he would vote for Mr. Biden over Mr. Trump under almost any circumstance.

“Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a very real disease,” Musk wrote answer on X.

Even if Mr. Musk does not ultimately decide to donate to a pro-Trump super PAC or spend money in other ways to help Mr. Trump, his own megaphone is substantial. Mr. Musk has 175 million followers on X and has the ability to shape messaging like few others in America.

Kitty Bennett research contributed.